blackened hulls and crimson scupper-holes, their spare cables tied
round their keels and over their bulwarks to hold them together,
which carried the news into the Bay of Naples. From thence, as a
reward for his services, he was transferred as first lieutenant to
the Aurora frigate, engaged in cutting off supplies from Genoa, and
in her he still remained until long after peace was declared.

How well I can remember his home-coming! Though it is now eight-
and-forty years ago, it is clearer to me than the doings of last
week, for the memory of an old man is like one of those glasses
which shows out what is at a distance and blurs all that is near.

My mother had been in a tremble ever since the first rumour of the
preliminaries came to our ears, for she knew that he might come as
soon as his message. She said little, but she saddened my life by
insisting that I should be for ever clean and tidy. With every
rumble of wheels, too, her eyes would glance towards the door, and
her hands steal up to smooth her pretty black hair. She had
embroidered a white "Welcome" upon a blue ground, with an anchor in
red upon each side, and a border of laurel leaves; and this was to
hang upon the two lilac bushes which flanked the cottage door. He
could not have left the Mediterranean before we had this finished,
and every morning she looked to see if it were in its place and
ready to be hanged.

But it was a weary time before the peace was ratified, and it was
April of next year before our great day came round to us. It had
been raining all morning, I remember--a soft spring rain, which sent
up a rich smell from the brown earth and pattered pleasantly upon
the budding chestnuts behind our cottage. The sun had shone out in